Via Sleep Doctor

“You want to spend about 60 minutes before bed just winding down. I call this the Power Down Hour. Let’s say your bedtime is 11 PM. Set an alarm for 10 PM to remind you, Hey it’s time to get ready for bed. You chop up [the hour] into three 20-minute segments.

The first 20 minutes is everything you need to do so the morning doesn’t suck. The next 20 minutes is for hygiene. […] The final 20 minutes is where a lot of the magic happens. For a lot of people, when they lie in bed, it’s the first time that anybody has given them a break all day and so all the thoughts come flooding in, and it raises your heart rate and anxiety, and that makes it hard to sleep, so you need to do something to either distract yourself or to replace those thoughts.”

— The ULTIMATE night routine to fall asleep fast, at 7:40

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Sleep specialist Dr. Michael Breus advocates for what he calls the Power Down Hour: a deliberate 60-minute routine that eases your brain out of the day and into sleep.

Set an alarm 60 minutes before your target bedtime, then divide the hour into three 20-minute segments:

First 20 minutes: Prep for the next day. Things that will keep the next morning low stress.

• Send off last-minute emails
• Lay out clothes for tomorrow
• Pack the kids’ backpacks for school
• Clear any small tasks that will nag at you otherwise

Second 20 minutes: Hygiene. Wash the day away.

• Brush teeth
• Wash face
• Evening shower

If you need bright bathroom light to remove makeup, do that much earlier in the evening—bright light close to bedtime works against you.

Third 20 minutes: Positive distraction. Replace the flood of anxious thoughts that tend to hit the moment you lie down.

• Meditation or breathing exercises
• Reading a book
• Listening to podcasts with pillow speakers
• Prayer or quiet reflection

Do this consistently and you'll power down before you lie down.